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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=5FuuVVg1-k0

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I will call the committee of the whole work session supporting community through public service at 10:41 this morning. On our agenda, we have the meeting minutes from um May 19th. Our agenda today is the Cook County SWCD

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update for information only. Then we do have the top transfer station operation transition uh information there too. And then we also have the minutes of the standing committees from past meetings information of airport advisory

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commission and the highway advisory committee. Our next meeting will be July 21st and um I'll open it up with the Cook County SWDC. Um thank you for having me Elena Hansel for those are online and I am the

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district manager and the watershed planner for the conservation district so water conservation district. So, I just wanted to update you on kind of what we are working on for 2026, what our workload looks like. We will be requesting funding again from the county and we appreciate all that the county

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has provided for us over the years, but I wanted to just uh refresh your mind as to what work we do and how we are um part of this county and the work impacts everybody. And then also just to let you know some of our forecasted budget um

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changes and implications for the future moving forward for 2027 and 2028. So I did a PowerPoint because it's easier to talk than me just blabbing for a while and gives you some visuals. So and then Jan I can click.

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>> Yes. Perfect. So update on our team just as some of this is reminder. Some of this you'll know some of this you've heard before. Um, we have five of us in our our office. There's five year round staff. There's myself, the district manager and wershed planner. We have Annne Pollson. She's our financial

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administrator. You may not see her much because due to our office sides, she is mostly remote. She shares a desk with Amanda Weeberg who is the aquatic invasive species supervisor. And then we have conservation technician Steven Janese. And then we have conservation

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technician 2 Max Tossson in our office to help kind of keep staff motivated to keep training. We actually have a kind of hierarchy system. So the more training you get and the more certifications you get, you get bumped to that level two, which also increases your pay. So that's why Max is a

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conservation tech too. Um because he has done um extensive training. So when we do projects with land owners, say for plantings um for shorelines, he is able now to write and um with the district now takes on all that liability, but he

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writes the plan and here's how many seeds and here's the plants you should have. >> Previously we always had to go and get state approval, but now he has that approval. >> So just to explain some of that and then we have four seasonal staff. So this year we have four boat inspectors. We

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have WY, Sheay, Nina, and Leroy. Leroy and Wy are I don't know how many years, eight, nine, ten years they've been doing this. And then Shay and Nine are both new. And then this year we have three youth volunteers through the Cook County Youth Exchange. They'll be helping with beach monitoring and other

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um projects. I left their name off just because they're minors. So um and then we have our five member board of elected supervisors. So Stan Tall, Greg Westigard, Amber Humphrey, Cindy Oberg Hower, and Gail Gizki. And then for those who weren't sure, our board

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represents the land and the water and not the people. So that gets confusing and so I often am telling people that that's their jurisdiction is the land and the resources. So I thought I would just kind of highlight our work and try to put it

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into categories for helping to remember and just to help to understand. So for 2026, we have education outreach, we have water monitoring going on, landowner assistance, sediment reduction, and then this other category, which encompasses way more than I could

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include in it. But for education outreach this year, we have five events planned with partners. We're working with Chickwalk, Cook County Extension, and Minnesota Lakes and Rivers. We do take a kid fishing. We do monthly WTIP interviews. We have an invasive species event that we're

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working with the Cook County invasive species folks from the highway department on this Saturday. Actually, we have school visits that we do year round. Um, and when I say us, I'm going to also Amanda, as you know, is AIS, but some of this encompasses her and some of

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it doesn't. So, just kind of keep that in mind. Um, but most of this is just our office, not AIS, but with a little sprinkle of it. um visits with camps and then we attend lake association meetings and homeowner association meetings and then we have a lot of opportunities as they develop we try to get out get out

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there for water monitoring our mon money for water monitoring is really difficult to um obtain to get a lot of folks don't really want to support that so and it it depends on what's going on at the state

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level so we just are at the end of finishing a three-year grant for doing a lot of extensive monitoring for the Minnesota Pollution Control Association agency and um so we have that funding which is winding down so next year will

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look completely different but for this year we have ecoli monitoring which we do through the department of health and that's actually 10 beaches not 11 that changed um we have the cross river which is at the very end of the gunflint trail that is exceptional water so we're keeping an eye on it to keep it

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exceptional hopefully it's very good water. Um, we support the lake associations and individuals monitoring inland lakes. If you're here on a Wednesday or a Tuesday, you'll often see people coming in and out with coolers. That's us supporting them. We're we're helping them to become more independent.

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There's around 11 or 12 lake associations or individuals throughout the county that we're helping to coordinate that are doing their own monitoring. Um, and we're providing equipment if we can. This year, something new that we're doing through Minnesota Crant and the Natural Resource

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Research Institute. If you haven't heard, little little sorry, Devil's Track Lake has had a couple consecutive years of cyanobacteria blooms. That's a big issue. That's blue green algae if you want the common name. Um, but it's not algae, it's cyanobacteria. It's just

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the common name. And so they are working on a program throughout the state to do cyanobacteria monitoring at the local level because when somebody comes in and they're like, "Hey Elena, what is this?" And we do the quick jar test and it's cyanobacteria. We then have to somehow

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figure out how to get it to duth to the lab to get analyzed. Is it active? Is it not active? And that can take days and then that's just too late >> or if it even is a sign of bacteria. Um, and we do get phone calls of people getting their dogs have been sick from Devil's Track Lake. So, we are fortunate

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in that they have a program this year. Um, and so we are going to work with Devil's Track Lake, Caribou, and I'm not sure what the other lakes are still, maybe one, two, or three, but right now it's at three lakes. Um, to have just test kits. So, if you were to say, "Hey,

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I'm concerned." I'd say, "Do the jar test." And then depending on what that jar test is, which it depends on where the the cyanobacteria is in the water column to determine, >> then we give you a test kit. And then we also take a water sample. And that test kit then um will tell you if it's

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cyanobacteria or not. And the sample also they have their program where somebody will come up and pick the sample up and take it down there and look at it. So those are just pictures of cyanobacteria on the right in case you've never seen it. >> You guys don't have a microscope. >> We don't have a microscope to that matterification or the expertise. So, it

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takes like days and days to run it. Um, and then they tell you all the different types it is. And, um, so we're excited to kind of get this up and going to better understand what's going on and then start to help make a plan working with land services and public health to

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see, you know, what do we need to do for future messaging, how much of a concern, and to help land owners understand that they are really impacting the water resources. I've had folks that have been here, you know, second, third generation concerned. And I'm able to say it's not

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just, it's always blamed on the new people coming in, but a lot of this is historical historical nutrients and sediment loading that is taking place in our waters with the climate change in the warming waters is causing these blooms to happen. So, it's not just the

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last 2 to 3 to 5, 10, 20 years. It's historic logging. It's not using septic systems a long time ago. It's a combination of things. So, we're looking at that. And then we also do precipitation monitoring out of our office. So, we have a number of people that we work with for that.

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>> Can you talk more about that? >> The precipitation monitoring. So, we have people all over the county that monitor every single day. They record it and then that goes to the state climatologist. Um, it helps to also we've noticed, you know, microclimates like Wolfridge. I mean, they're in Lake County, but they're a perfect example of

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having their own microclimate. Um, and Hovand often gets more different precipitation than you know the West End does. So just looking at the precipitation can see the changes day by day. >> And that's manual monitoring. >> All manual monitoring. Yep. Volunteers

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get trained in and then they record it and they get really excited. It's pretty cool. We provide landowner assistance. Um, so we have had a number of site visits, emails, phone calls, uh, you name it. We're talking to folks sometimes on the street at the grocery store, but often

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it's always about erosion, forestry, storm water, shoreline repairing buffers. This is a picture of a project we're doing for education outreach this year where it's folks will go out and look at uh shoreline activity that we did last year with land owners and with

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the community. We had planted 500 plugs and um we're going to go check that site out to see what it looks like. It's very interesting. It's now covered in loopin and rocks that are this big that came up from the ice heath. So, it's a it's a great opportunity to discuss, well, now what do we do? You know, and because

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that's reality. That's nature. Um, and then we're going to go plant this site which has been covered in plastic with plugs. Um, this area is on on Pike Lake. >> What are the plugs? >> A ton of different native plants. I don't know what they are. I'd have to ask that. So, yep. Um, and then we've

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also been working with um land owners already. We've got over 20 land owners that folks have been out doing site visits to. We are getting them about one or two a week now. We've got an online portal and that's increased uh folks workload um to be able to help land

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owners. So uh we are implementing cost share projects. We're fortunate right now where we have six projects and we have funding to help land owners. still have a large waiting list. Um, but we still are able to help land owners uh do forestry projects where we pay 75% of

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the project and they pay 20%. Some of it's writing forward stewardship plans, shoreline practices, um, just a variety of different opportunities to mitigate land use impacts to water quality and soil. And then just connecting with land owners on previous projects. So, we also

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are anybody who does a project with us is under a 10-year contract. So that requires a one, three, five, and nineyear site inspection from staff. So that includes me going out um all of us all hands on deck to go out and talk to land owners and help them understand how

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their projects working. >> That's a volunteer. >> Volunteer. No. Well, what do you mean volunteer? >> That the landowner requests. >> It's a 10-year contract. >> 10ear contract. So >> the volunteering correct beginning. >> Yes. At the beginning. It's all our work

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is not enforcement. It's all volunteer, >> right? But but the landowner comes says, "We'd like help with this." And so you say, "Well, we will, but you have a 10-year contract, and what we're going to do is we're going to monitor it on these years to make sure that the agreement is being met," which is a great thing. So, >> yeah, definitely. Yeah. We always

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provide folks um either with a verbal recommendations or if they'd like, we provide them. Sometimes it requires an engineer to come up and say, "We have a recommendation through that." or they have a letter and then they can come to us and say yes I definitely want to move forward and then yep

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>> so uh this is a category I didn't know how because most of what we do is sediment reduction but I didn't know how to grasp this one in a bucket but this is the bucket it is going into so we have to also line up projects for the future

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it takes years sometimes three to four to five years sometimes two years to get projects from start to finish in working with a land owner. So, right now, um I don't have names for these land owners because we're not under contract with them, but we are doing project scoping

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with a very large project and land owner. Um and the states involved with it. It's an exciting project and we're looking at removing and it's three or four land owners in this watershed looking at removing aquatic uh organism barrier. So, an old dam that nobody can

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find plans for, but you can see it on aerial photos kind of go in. So, we're talking a very historical uh natural channel work, storm water mitigation, all at this one location, and it's a trout stream going through here in tributaries. But that project takes years and then years of trying to find

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the funding. So, we're getting that in development and in the hopper so we can apply for funding. We're going to be working some with the Papa River, possibly exploring putting that bug out to uh re- um establish the Papa River management board as more and more land

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owners on that uh river continually are reaching out to us for assistance and it's a very dynamic river. We are assisting with the highway department and continuing keeping track of our stream restoration project and little Devil's Track River. Uh and then various storm water projects, maybe with the

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city or other land owners. We've got boat landing assessment and we've got two boat landing projects which we are just they're sitting on the shelf waiting for funding. Um so as soon as we can find funding for those we've got projects going in. One is with the county so we'll update you that it's

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clear water boat landing and then the other one is with the forest service which we'll keep that one until we get farther along with that process. And then we did work with the village ditch and do some live staking. So that was completed. So we've been pretty busy still pretty busy. a lot of work for

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five people. So, and then other this does not encompass everything that's other just some big highlights. Uh the tree and shrub sale which we used to do with partners but due to a lot of changes we are now fully taking on our own as the SWCD. So that's

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a change that we started a tree and tube sale tree tube sale. So folks when they're planting more um deciduous trees, we've got a lot more oaks and maples coming up so that it helps with deer brows uh because in the past we've just helped you know sell cages which is

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great for coniferous trees but those deciduous trees are also very edible. >> Um staff trainings we have grant writing and grant management. We have a lot of meeting with partners. We are the fiscal agent for over a million dollars with the one wershed one plan. So that's a lot of responsibility and a lot of extra

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work. Uh we provide technical expertise which I'll touch in a minute to other county departments. Um we're active members which again I'll touch on of several different committees and organizations and then we have a long list of other duties and responsibilities >> as assigned.

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>> As assigned yeah or >> is a wood watershed which uh which counties are involved in that? >> Yep. So for Lake Superior North, we just have Cook County and Lake County. And then we also are part of the Rainy River Headwaters Vermillion River. And that's

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St. Louis, uh, Cook and Lake. And then North St. Louis SWCD, Lake SWCD, and Cook SWCD. >> And North St. Louis SWCD is the fiscal agent for that because they have the bulk of the area. >> Okay.

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>> All right. Just going to touch again on aquatic invasive species. We're just going to highlight their budget um quickly, not to pop this random one in, but just because this is part of our office. Amanda, we call her the silo, but she's not the silo because her work impacts our work because water quality

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is impacted through aquatic invasive species. >> It used to be kind of on its own and then it landed in our office the day that COVID hit and we all got sent home in March in 2022 or 2020, sorry. So Amanda's been part of our staff and our team and all of those who work under her

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because she is a supervisor um are part of our team but her funding is separate. Um it is housed with the county and it is separate funding but we also part of the um agreement we came with in adding more work to the district manager's

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position is that we need to have a little bit of supplemental money because I am a actively engaged with all of that program and all of that staff. So, we do take some of our funding through the AI to the AIS program to our staff and for Ann's position because she's also

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managing the finances for this. So, previously up until 2026, there's been around $200,000. This budget is getting cut in half as of 2027 down to $100,000 a year. Uh Amanda has done a phenomenal job. She's been

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the person with the program since 2014 and managing the budget. She has a large general fund budget that will carry her for a couple of years. It is going to require that we like next year we'll go back down to three staff for uh um

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inspectors for boat inspectors. We did four this year because we know we have somebody leaving next year and we're hoping that they'll stay on then so everybody's trained in and we can keep that continuity. >> Um but it was a long discussion because it impacts her budget for the year. You

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know, the SWCD we house that position. we house uh the energy and all the greatness that it is. The program advocates to prevent aquatic invasive species in the water. Sometimes people think it's terrestrial, it's aquatic. Um the costs uh to be proactive, just as a

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reminder, are a lot lot cheaper than having to be reactive. So it's a it's just she just does an amazing job and it's a very valuable program. Um what happens if you get a cooperative based species in your property? Again, it reduces your property value. that has

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been seen over and over and over across the country. I sit on on webinars and I'm from Indiana. I always like hearing the Indiana stuff. Um they talk about it all the time. The property values are dropping because people can't use the waters. Um you have a decline in recreation suitability. You most of our

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people up here get water from the lakes to drink from to use. That impacts their water and it impacts the aquatic ecosystems. Um right now it employs four to five people. as that funding gets gets less, it's less employment also, if you want to look at it from that end for

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the people uh in our community. And they're seasonal people. The seasonal people are great. They're retired. Some of them, they just want a second job to keep busy, to have a little extra income, and it's a great opportunity for them. So, we appreciate their work.

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All right. So, what other work do we provide? We've got aquatic invasive species checked off. We are obligated the SWCD to provide technical expertise to the county for the wetland conservation act and the buffer law. So that includes we have a staff member

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dedicated to doing just wetlands. So they sit on the technical evaluation panel. So if folks reach out to land services, then the state comes down and everybody comes down and they walk around. They look at is this a wetland? What are the impacts? What needs to be done? They also we're responsible our

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office is for writing wetland restoration orders. Um that doesn't happen too often thank goodness but I know we have a big one coming up that's additional work load on my staff um who are already stretched pretty thin but it's a state obligation and we are fine

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with doing it and happy to do that. We also are required by the state to again we're not enforcement but to um help with buffer long compliance. So I have one staff dedicate dedicated to this. So they are looking at maps making sure people have buffers or not um dirt all

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the way up to different repairing areas. So lakes and streams and then also if there it's a goofy in my opinion if there is an issue it goes to land services and then comes back to us to help enforce it but we're required to help enforce the the ordinance because

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that's the way the law is written and so that's the way we do it. So, um, beyond that, each county has a water planner. Counties always had one, uh, that position 25 plus years ago. Used to be with the county, then it got moved to the conservation district. Maybe it was

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20 years ago. I am currently the county water planner. We just call it a watershed planner because it's we have changed the programs changed to the whole watershed district instead of just tiny little water. Um, what does that mean? It means that I'm representing both the county and the SWCD, which I

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try to do with helping. For example, the highway department department needed more funding for the Rainy River Headarters for the Gunflint Trail. >> Came back, I knew we had extra money going on in the Rain River Headarters plan um for implementing it. Everybody,

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everybody, all the partners got together, said, "Yes, shook up about $200,000. Here you go. Cook County Highway Department. Use this for match. uses for um projects. So I try to represent both uh organizations as best as I can and then we have Lakes Pure

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North. Um and these adopted funds because you have a county water planner also means that the county gets natural resource black block grant funding and that helps a little bit with septic systems, helps with um shorelines and wetlands. So questions on any of that?

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what what's the uh sort of organizational chart of governance or components when it comes to the water? So we've got county water planner, >> we have Bowser, we've got So what are

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the component elements that advise relative to >> advice for what exactly? Well, like if you if you look at um Lake Superior and uh Popular River >> Mhm. >> that board. >> Yeah. So, it's not that easy because we

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don't in Minnesota the waters are public waters, right? So, that means the state is the ones I don't know, you know, they have jurisdiction over it all. And so each agency, this is my understanding, you know, for Lake Superior, that's a

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whole another >> ball of worm, you know, wax because we've got federal and and then so it just kind of depends on what the water body is. So, for example, like the popular management board, the waters are not they're governed by

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the state, but the land owners are the ones that are responsible for keeping it clean. And because that there's so many different land owners, you've got the Forest Service, you've got all the private entities. Those folks came together over 20 25 years ago to form this this board,

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better lack of word, that's what they call themselves, their board, this committee to say, let's work together as a whole watershed in this area that's developed to figure out instead of putting band-aids, what do we need to do to keep the system going and keep it healthy and keep these waters clean? So Bowser oversees the soil and water

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conservation districts and then like through the one wershed one plan my understanding is and my experience has been that DNR MPCA everybody sits at the table when we go through that planning process which you've been part of we're all still at the table um and right now the tribes I am uh the lays on right now

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with MPCA and Bowser and Graham Portage as we navigate the next one wershed one plan we are going to be changing things Um, and we're going to be asking for an extension because the plan expires in 2027, but we just updated it. And what

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we're going to be doing is taking water quality standards from the tribe and the state and we're looking at how they mirror and they overlap and how can we get more on the same page and then how does that impact land use? Um, and so we

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meet two or three times a year and we're talking about all of this and then we're going to go to the state at the local level and say we want an extension to be able to incorporate this into our next water plan. Um, before that didn't happen. It was just like come on Grand Portage, you guys have to come along and

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and be part of this. So in answer to your question, who governs the water? It's a public waters. It's the land around it that it just depends on the land owner >> and and the reason that when you look at things u we can say we're rolling out

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this website now thrive okay >> which says when it comes to public health wellness these are all the component parts that you can avail yourself to. So when we're talking about land use and we're talking about water, w waterheds and >> then looking at that structure as to how

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we govern that >> and and obviously jurisdiction whether it's federal or state or it's county >> but understanding the interconnection so then you know who defers to who or where this comes from that would be helpful.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. I'd have to look at it more to be able to provide more of an answer. And then what other work do we provide to the county beyond that this is not regulated as we do a lot with the highway department? Um it's become more intertwined which has been really great.

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We do a lot with culverts talking about culverts the size of culverts what kind of culverts bridges um stream restoration. We've done a lot through Little Devil's Track just to understand the impacts of um when you pull a culvert out and you put a bridge or

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whatever it you didn't you changed the hydraology of that area, you know, when you've upsized it. What does that look like? What do you do for fish habitat? You can't throw gravel in um as has been previously done and they've seen the impacts to that. So, a lot of stream restoration work um grant applications.

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We were able to help Little Devil's Track that bridge. Robbie and I were down there. Um, whenever he needs a letter of recommendation for this work, we're able to help and support that work. And then a lot of vegetation and invasive species work uh through Tia and Abigail because that's really important

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for forest biodiversity, which is part of the reason we have clean water up here um because we have such healthy forests. And then assistance to land services that has also really grown over the last couple years. Um we're providing technical expertise on

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buffers, vegetation, shorelines. Uh Max writes 90% of the technical letters and for variances and for permits which has been beneficial and um I'm gonna say in denying some of this because it's able to help educate land owners that like

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yeah you put a structure right there but for it's not healthy for the water and if you want your property value if you just look at it that way you there's so much science that says all that nutrients right in front of your lake property will be more vegetated and not as clean in our nutrient low waters

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compared to somebody who doesn't have that. So, just being able to promote uh a lot of good best management practices on the lands um and helping just to change people's mindset that this hopefully the water can stay clean for a lot of generations. We do a lot of assistance to land owners prior to

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variances. So often people will come in and and land services will say, "Yeah, we'll grant your variance, but you need to go across the hall before it gets to be an issue and do a planting plan with us." And we will do cost share with individuals prior to them having these

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variances or these restraints or getting in trouble and that has been really beneficial. And we also sometimes do education and outreach on the property which has also been great because people ask, well, how did they get that? And well, they came to us and asked. Um, so it's been a great opportunity to really

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partner going out and doing site visits, learning each other's work and how intertwined they are. Um, also for grant applications, the drinking water grant application that they received, um, I was a large part in working with Joseph on that. So really just trying to support the other departments and we

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feel that support from them and we're we're grateful for that. Uh, I thought this was pretty cool. This shows all our partners. So, this is just this year, and I'm pretty sure I missed a few, but I won't read over them all, but we are working with constantly

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working with some staff, with somebody new, somebody different, supporting each other's work. It takes a team to be able to work in conservation. It's not something you can work in a silo on. So, it's all the way from the local level, from the lake associations, all the way to the federal level. Um, just from the

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esport service. >> I like it because it's really pretty and it pops. It's like, hey, look at this. So, talking finances now. Um, I redid our budget since we met a long time ago. Um, it's for us, our budget's always a

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revolving door due to the fact that we are mostly grant funded, about 75% grant funded. So, this is our 2026 budget. You'll see there's a deficit. Um, when I met with you previously and I know in the slide I had provided or the information it says that we had to tap

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into our general fund. Part of our general fund comes from our billable rates. Our billable rates are really tight. We had somebody figure it out. We only get 1 to 2% of our our billable rate actually can go into our our general fund. That 1 2% 1 to 2% is often

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spent. Um, it's often just spent. So, we don't have a lot of wiggle room. um we've been lucky the last couple years, but now we're starting to feel our luck run out as a lot of uh federal and state changes have come across over the last year and a half. So for 2026, when I did

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our budget last, which was in April, we were at a deficit. Um that's because we have to also carry funds over even for one watershed, one plan because again, we're the fiscal agent and it's a reimbursement program. So if people have $200,000 worth of bills come through, we

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either don't pay them or we have to take it out of our budget until we get reimbursed for the programs. Um so we are constantly in the red and then the black and in the red and the black um every year all the time. And so when I did our budget, it's a deficit, but I'm

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not worried because I know that we have money that just came in. I also know we have a new grant that came in and so it equals out. Um this year will equal out. We're hopeful um to be zero, but that was just our budget to update my board to keep them updated. Um for $23,000,

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>> how's the u I mean, when when there's money that is yours that you have to dip in in order to cover things. So, in other words, you end up being the bank. >> Yep. We are the bank. >> What uh how problematic is that for you? >> It's problematic. It's hard to keep your books balanced because especially at the

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end of the year when we go at the end of the year and you're looking at it and you're like, "Holy cow, we have a $200,000 deficit because we're still waiting for reimbursements, >> but we know our neighbors aren't." And it's an audit nightmare. Um, and so then we have to say, you know, here's the amount that's due from other

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governments. So then we can we know that amount because we have a binder with all our grants and all our invoices. So we know that and so we can balance it and say here's how much it is you know here's the deficit. The other thing to note we are working off of six different hourly rates every year. So that's the

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other nightmare. So you have six different hourly rates. You've got money coming from due governments. You've got some of them have billable rates where we get that 1 to 2%. Some of them don't. Some of them don't cover all of our expenses. So it's it's it's it's hard

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it's hard to keep our budget going. And and what I would say is that to the extent that it it it takes energy and time, >> a lot of time >> that then it's trying to change that. And I know when as commissioners when we're looking at budget and so we ask these questions to Brady, everybody

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said, "Well, that these pill funds don't come in or we don't get school that doesn't." And so trying to figure it out based upon what our reality is can be challenging. But uh bottom line in that regard is that if if you find that that

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cash flow is affected by other people not being accountable, >> then that has to change because it encumbers our ability to be effective. Yep. >> Use of our time. >> Yeah. >> And so Lena, just to make sure I understand correctly, so for the grants that you receive,

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>> um my understanding is they have they've kept that 1 to 2%. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. And that's not your doing. That's >> No, that's not our doing. That's the state Bowser, the board of water and soil resources saying, "Here's how you figure out your billable rate." >> And when someone So, we we have a

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district manager who everybody goes to because she has a business background. I have a biology degree and a teaching license, you know. So, I I've had to learn a lot. And she came forward and said to the state, I we're only having a 1 to2%, you know, off of millions of dollars because she's also the fiscal

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agent. So, we have a million dollars and for us, the county actually receives the interest from that million dollars from and from the $800,000 from AIS because you're our fiscal agent. You're holding our money. So, we as a district, if we end up as we work through our service

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agreement, pulling all of our money out, that's $40 to $50,000 a year that would benefit us in reality because we now have that extra money because we're gaining all that interest. >> But it also is another headache there. There's a lot of coins here sides to this coin.

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>> So, it's it's interesting. It's >> But so, let's just say that that you're ask of the county, what is your ask of the county? >> We ask 80,000, which I'm going to get to. Yeah. >> Okay. >> And and so, but the county is making the interest. And as practice, are we

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saying, "Well, we're making money on their money, so let's at least give them that." >> I don't know that conversation. >> That that would be an interesting point. But >> any Yeah. So, I just like to just yeah, want to be transparent and put everything out there. So, >> um Okay. So, as we navigate our 2027

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budget considerations, I know we've talked about this in the past. I am going to present my budget to you for the 2027 budget request. I don't have exact wages. I'm not even close because I am figuring out all these different

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rates right now. Um and we don't know our funding mechanisms. So, right now, my budget will be off because I'm going to only go through one funding source, which is the higher billable rate. Um, because that's been the easiest way to

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calculate. It also factors in when um we know that there's going to be increases to health insurance. It seems to be the best way when I figure out my budget. Yeah, Kristen, >> why are you using the billable rate instead of personnel costs? Because when I do grants, I have to always do the

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billable rates. And so I have the personnel costs, but that employee is paid the same throughout the year regardless of what the billable rate is. >> That's for revenue, right? The billable rate versus expense. >> Yeah. Yeah. Oh, you're talking about revenue.

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>> Well, I don't how do I >> No, I mean, because she's she's trying to do her calculations based anticipate the increase in health insurance and other things. So, it is an expense element, but >> that's but that number is set. >> Yeah, >> we can talk about this. >> Yeah, we can talk about it later. Um, I

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don't I'm going to have to see if I can figure out how to explain it because when we do our budget, and this is how I was taught because we factor into our billable rate our cost for mileage, everything. Yep.

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>> Yep. And because the grants, we have to use that for the grants. So when I'm looking at it, I'm I mean this is my this is not how it looks, but this is my sheet. Okay, so all these grants, my personnel I can I know I can take out, you know, 10 20% and that's on my huge

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sheet that I have in database. And so that's my personnel. I mean, I have the personnel actual personnel costs and then I have the billable rate costs if that makes sense. I have them both. We can talk. >> Let's talk about this. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Well, before you get to the next slide, which is probably going to have numbers on it, are we supposed to gasp when you

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get to it? I don't have the numbers for you and I'll tell you why. Yeah, I have some numbers and it has the personnel costs. So, yeah, this keep this in our bracket. >> Yep, I have those. >> And then and that 2027 there, that

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shows. But if I look at this, I can look at 2025 when you have 1.2 million >> and now your projected budget is at 800,000. >> That's a 33% reduction. Mhm.

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>> And I I would say where departmentally have we seen a 33% reduction. >> But let's go through the conversation. Let's work through this because there's reasons for that. >> Yeah. So, let's go through it. Um, okay. So, we'll talk about personnel stuff.

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I'll work with Kristen on that. And wages. Um, we have several grants that are not secure, which I will also go through that. So, when you see the 2027 budget, it is going to be in the red. 100% guarantee you that. Um, and that number could become less or more

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depending on a few different things which I'll get into. I don't know the county's allocation, which is why it's not on that document and I didn't factor that in. Um, and then again, we're the fiscal agent for one of one plan. That number fluctuates, and that's part of

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our budget, but it's only part of our budget for the part that we utilize. So there is a whole $600,000 that's sitting over here part of the one wershed one plan and say for 2026 we only use $200,000 of that. So that's the only

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part you see in our budget when you look at our numbers. It's not this whole other million dollars. But if you were to pull out our SWCD treasures report every month you're going to see huge numbers because of the one watershed bank we'll call it over here that we are >> which the county's making interest on.

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>> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. So, also a few things to keep in mind. Sorry, I'm cold. So, if I keep rubbing my hands, um, we can only charge 10 to 20% of our time for our grants, for personnel time. As our wages go up, that means we have a lot less

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time that we can put towards grants. So, we've got to figure out what do we do with that, which often means we tap into our general fund to cover that. Um, if we can't cover our cost for staff time because again sometimes projects take years, then we again go into our general

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fund or we try to find other funding to cover that. We work off of annually 15 grants a year. Um, that's average. I do the reporting for the county for the natural resource block grants and for the septic system grants. On average, I

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just for the state alone, I'm I report on 20 to it's about 25 to 30 grants depending on the year. That's all of January. That's all I have time to do. So, it's a lot. >> If you were to take a time study of your

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time, I mean, for grant writing, you have their other staff that write grants. >> I have to do all the grant writing because we want our staff in the field. So then my question if you've ever you know calculated out what percentage of your time is grant writing? >> It depends on the time of the year. On

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average a grant I've done this long enough. I've been at this job for 15 years that helps but if it's a new project it'll take 40 hours. That is what I do at night. I'm not going to lie. So >> right. So but if I came in in your department I said okay I want to know

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how much are you doing you know this and how much you doing that. and you say of a 100% of my time annually >> that I can't answer because it it it really depends. So I could go in right now and look and say to date I have

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probably applied for 8 to 10 grants. You're going to average 20 to 40 hours a grant. >> That's to date. So that's not managing grants. That's simply writing them. How many have we obtained? >> I don't know because I'm waiting on so

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many that are federal right now. um we've gotten few. >> So, >> so almost like well 30% of your time. >> Yeah, you could see. >> Well, and I think I think that's what you you look at. Let's just say that sometimes, you know, you'll have a

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somebody that comes in that is your supervisor and they'll say, >> "How come this isn't done?" Well, because I'm >> Yeah, they I'm doing this. Yeah, it's hard. >> And so the point is from our perspective, we're trying to say all of the things that you do, how much is done on the administrative side. We look at

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public health, human services, same thing. How much are you actually with people helping them in their wellness and how much you actually doing the paperwork that's required and the bottom line is we want results from what our purpose, >> right?

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>> Yeah. I can't answer that. I mean I >> How does this compare with other soil water conservation districts county compared to other >> we all conservation district? Not all it's um I you can't compare. I mean regarding grant writing or >> grant writing or in general?

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>> Yeah, let's just say if 75% of your budget just comes how do we find that and you could say well I can do comparable counties now you in comparable in this regard you got to look at the amount of acreage within our county >> and the amount of water that you have

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and then you'd say okay they they maybe get a greater percentage of county you know levy dollars as opposed to grant dollars. So we're not going to compare ourselves to the farms. We're gonna do the top ones. And my understanding a lot

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so everybody is very different. We are fortunate that we well we used to be able to t tap into the federal funds more because of the Great Lakes, but that funding has um decreased uh a lot. And so most of the the SWCDs are not

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funded across the state, which is why we're continually asking for at least the SWCD aid, which was also reduced. and that was our our base funding and that's was reduced down to I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head 112 to $120,000.

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So all the districts especially right now are feeling all of the cuts because most of them are are we're charged with being the boots on the ground is what everybody calls us but with no funding. Yeah. So yeah, and there's folks that

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have 10 or 12 staff that are funded and that are grant funded that are also feeling the same burdens of Yes, we are 75% funded, but you know, they can't us who are smaller are all >> kind of struggling. Yeah. So, here's a

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question that I hesitate to raise, but um back in uh early, you know, 20s, >> uh 2012, whatever, >> uh so water conservation districts were looking for levy authority, >> right? >> Has that discussion continued?

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>> It has not that I'm aware of. It continually gets we shot down that Yeah. So, >> I'm not encouraged. No, I know you're not. But I you know when we we have been told by our representatives of Hoschild

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and Scraba to continually ask for the counties for all of our partners to start speaking up because they're hearing it from land owners but they're not hearing it from our large partners of like what's your value you know and hey highway department you we you helped secure you know over $4 million in the

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last three years for the county you know and just to continually have our value because as what we are being told that as things continually get restricted strained. We will also continue that we get restrained and we're all looking at like how you know we will go back to the

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day which is before my time where the supervisors didn't get paid and you had two staff and it will be across the state because that's >> what will happen. But we're trying not to we're trying to stay optimistic and keep putting one foot forward and keep

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moving forward. Well, I I think you know our our our intention moving forward is is to to make databased informed decisions >> and and if if the information that is provided is it's factual >> and not emotional. We'll say absolutely.

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>> Yeah. that when we as decision makers are evaluating all of the services we provide, we need it in the context to show right if if your statement about the highway department, what you do in assisting the highway department that generating this revenue

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>> that we need to show your value where it touches other areas within our community so that we do that database analysis. We're saying, okay, we're prioritizing dollars based upon the return of those dollars, >> which is why I'm here to try to >> present this in a different way because

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I know what we do, but I and we are not We always laugh at soil and water folks. We're kind of introverted. We don't we don't want to like say, "Hey, here's what we do even though we're supposed to." And the hard part too is that we can't take on any more workload. You know, we are always getting told you

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need to be out there and land owners are constantly calling. But when we have a 1 to two to threeyear waiting list, >> that's really hard for land owners and that's hard for us because we want to get work done. That's why we're here. So, >> so yeah. So, we spend I spend an enormous amount of time administering

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and writing grants. Yeah. Where I could be doing other things. You know, education outreach is my background and that's what I did. And when I took on district manager, I still had a full-time job. So I have two jobs which I've been trying to separate out more for my board to be able to see both

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roles and our board reports. So okay so 2027 budget projections our my estimated you know still working through it our total revenue is around $755,000. Um our personnel costs around 390,000

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we have estimated for projects is 365,000. So when you're looking at that graph that I presented to you, it is going to change because we have different projects. You know, for example, Papa River is a good chunk of that $365,000. That's a $300,000 project that we're

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going to be putting in. The following year, we're looking at putting at a $450,000 project if we can secure the funding for our big project on top of all our smaller projects. So that number, if we can secure it, will go up. But remember, our our staff money is still not going to increase as much. um

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it just means we get to shift things around and not have to touch into our general fund. So right now it's estimated um that we are potentially potentially going to have around $134,000 federal funds. Um we have four grants

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that are out there. I have no idea what's going to happen with them. We were told that they're in the hopper, but they're all environmental and we don't know. So, we're just waiting for things to continually. There's a lot of questions out there, which makes me nervous that they're not going to go through, but we're going to hopeful hope

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for them. Um, there some of them are multi-year grants, which will be beneficial also because then they can carry into 2028, but until we know that, we don't know much. Um, so the top level, sorry, that's our secured

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estimated personnel funding that I have. Our actual cost for estimated personnel is around 502,000. Um, I've been with the county a long time, so I make I'm grateful for what I make. So that bumps our costs up, you know. Um, and so that's that's not our hourly rate.

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That's what includes for our board because we pay our board and all of our staff. So we have roughly a deficit next year of $112,000. Um, for our day-to-day operations, that again, that's not our hourly rates. That's what is included in our hourly

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relates, but we have a 20 to $30,000 deficit. So our total estimated again this is pretty rough because I'm still working through all the numbers is 168,000 for next year. >> Did does that >> yeah I don't see >> reflect that from 2025 is 1.2 million. I

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mean let's just say that when you have grants >> grants are fluctuate so much >> y >> that you can have fluctuations. If we look at your your bar graph here, we see fluctuations and largely well you color coded it but

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>> but um >> um if you're if you're asked because we see grants are dropping. We're not getting as many grants to fund. >> Yep. >> Then that puts more of a burden on on

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the levy if we're going to continue operations where we're at. Right. So right now for us, we just >> we need to know there's no question that you haven't been aggressive relative to writing the grants. >> Yep. >> Which has a flip side of the coin effect

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on what you devote other time to, but it's fundamental to your being able to operate. >> Correct. >> So >> Yep. >> Yeah. But uh >> yeah, you're getting my whole picture. Yeah, I appreciate that. That's great. >> Yeah. No, but this this is uh I

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appreciate, you know, the discussion and and we're we're tripping through it as opposed to here it is, it's clean, walk away. >> No, it's not clean at all. >> We don't own it because we haven't really >> Yeah. >> chewed on it with you kind of thing. >> Yeah, definitely. >> So, when organizations um go through a

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challenge like this, there are different strategies that they leverage to offset the deficits. as a state has SWCA talked about what strategies they're going to leverage? >> No, we are so the only strategy they

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have right now is the SWCD aid and then otherwise it's just we as district managers all know that it just means cuts with staff or programs and projects. So we're all we from my and I it's so interesting because it depends who you talk to us on the Northshore are

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getting hit differently because of our federal funding folks. Uh the natural resource conservation service depending on what happens with the USDA and all of that. We'll leave it at that. That will really impact everybody um because a lot of our districts are

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housed with them and so if those reductions happen. So right now I think this it's it's every conversation we have is totally different. So right now it's just keep keep your head up, keep moving forward and see what you can do. So we do a lot with partnerships. Um we

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do a lot with collaborating with grants with like SWCD. You know almost every time I we're applying for a grant that can be across that county line, we're saying do you guys need part of it for staff time? The grant can be up to this amount of money. We're only going to use half of it. Do you want to mimic it? And

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most of the time they'll say yes. and we are just doing what we can to share as much funding. >> So, >> and you've got a limiter on your billable >> rate. >> So, it's not like saying, well, let's just increase I mean, if we look at land services and we'll say, well, we're going to increase our inspection rate or

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whatever. I don't know that we've got a governor on that, but we we in this situation, we do. So, >> it's only going to be in relationship to a percentage of overall budgets. >> Yep. So, um, what's the future forecast?

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It's variable. We have no idea. Um, I just mentioned kind of those deficits. We have project costs that are not determined into this these numbers yet. The budget's going to be impacted next year by our reductions in AIS. I haven't factored that in yet because we were when I did this budget, it was still

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kind of all over the fence as to what those implications are going to be. Now that we know solid numbers, we will reduce probably what we take from the AIS budget. um for my staffing time. So, uh because we only take a percentage of it. This the one good caveat is that um

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again when I'm doing this budget, I didn't have our FY26 watershed based implementation funding. That's that Lake Superior North that we're fiscal agent. We've got projects coming in for that. So, that will help and that will increase things. And then with some

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luck, I'm hoping that that $134,000 will be secured and then our deficit goes down. Again, these are rough numbers to around $33,000, which we can make up somewhat in our billable rates, or we can take from our general fund. We do have the state likes

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you to try to have six months of general fund, which we luckily have um due to everybody before me and myself of just continually trying to build that and being really fiscally frugal. Um, so what I tried to just paint, again, I don't have the county funding in here.

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We have 16% of our funding is going to be used from our right now. Again, I need to run the numbers for our fund balance. So, I'm calling that secured. We have our statebased funding, which I know is 20 1% which we get annually. And then the rest is our competitive grants.

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Um, and that's secured. So, here's the graph you have. It changed a little bit from when you what you have in your packet because I played with numbers as I'm working through my budget, but it's pretty close. Again, I just took out that um funding for the um

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county on the 27 because it's not secured yet. So, we're just looking at secured money. And then that purple, which is our fund balance, again, that's our hourly rates. And that's just knowing that we'll be use utilizing that but offsetting it. It could shrink, could increase as I move forward.

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So the >> fund fund balance is different than the the money is that there for the watershed. >> Yes. Totally different. That's just like the county has a fund balance. So does the district. >> Yeah. >> And and how about the interest on that then? >> The county has that interest too because the county houses all our funding. >> Okay. That's interesting.

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>> Yep. Um so I just wanted to paint the picture because we I like to look longterm and have that big picture and then work backwards. So, the day-to-day our 2028 projection because I also, you know, I want my staff to know what's going on.

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Um, and my board um we're going to we're impact and we're going to have a larger deficit just due to increased personnel, day-to-day costs, you know, cost of living, staff wages going up. Um, we have a lot of grants and funding that's not, we just don't know where the

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funding mechanisms are going to be in 2027. Um, we've already been told that through the state and the federal government. Um, so there's a lot of unknowns. Again, we have that one hopeful glimmer of the FY28 watershed based implementation funding for Rainy River Headarters and Lakes Pure North.

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If it maintains at its current level, that'll still be a million dollars. But again, we don't get the full million. It's based off of projects that need to be implemented. When we did our fiscal year 26, we already had over a million dollars worth of projects that were ready in the hopper between the county,

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just Cook County, the county and the SWCD waiting to get implemented. So, when I say yay, there is a yay, but it's not like we're going to be the cash cow. Um, I always like to paint that because it it seems to be misrepresented. So, my off the the back of the napkin scratches

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for 2028 is we're looking at a $250,000 deficit. Um there's nothing I can't change that number. It's just that's my first little glimpse. Um we'll figure it out. When I started this job, it was always grant funded and that was in 2011 and I was every year in September, we'd be like,

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"Well, do we have a job next year?" Um and so we we just find a way. Um I tell the staff that too who are kind of nervous, but we're not alone across we know that there's budget cuts across the board. So, I know you all have a tough decision to make, but I wanted to show

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you our impact that we act we do have um and show you our budget also so that you're aware of that. >> Can you um what what your I I don't know the correct word is actually contingency.

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It's just what's your plan >> given what you're looking at. So, where do you begin? >> That is a board. Yeah, that's a board discussion. And so we have not approached that yet because right now we're going to get our 2027 budget figured out and solidified. They the budget you will have will not be

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approved by my board yet, but they are familiar with all of this. We've been discussing it and then we'll start to to look and discuss more. >> It'd be helpful. It'd be helpful for us if we knew. So what's your response to what you're seeing to see and of course

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the board informs that and your experience informs it so that we say I think your approach is what it is either we say that's acceptable or it's not acceptable but >> right well and it'll be for my board to decide because they're their own supervisors what is going to be acceptable and what they decide to do

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for all of that. >> True, but it comes before us as a recommendation. >> It doesn't Nope. They're their own. We're they're they're own government government agency. And so it will just be I'm just informing you as a partner and as somebody who is providing funding for us, but it will all go before my

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board and then my board has to make the decisions of cutting staff hours, cutting staff time, cutting programs, and then I can present to you what they have approved as the governing board. >> And and that that's my point. I understand the independence. It just if you're coming for any tax dollars that

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are levy dependent, the rationale that informed your your ask is what we need to know. So, yeah. >> And some of the things that we've done as a county in the past to support your agency is provide space. I know it's not the best space, but space provides space

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so that you don't have the overhead cost of renting space. um we help manage the finances and I know like you've mentioned the county keeps the interest but we don't charge right >> for that service and so I think we've been creative about how to help in other ways

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>> and I look forward to having additional conversations about are there other ways >> that we could perhaps >> um assist as we move forward I'm not sure what those are but >> and we're also at the place where I think we need to update the contract

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>> updating the service agreement Yep. Currently that will be helpful. >> Yeah. And hopefully that will be done by the end of the year is the goal and so we'll have a better understanding even for our end what what all this looks like. And we've been grateful you know the the service agreement started in 2004 um to help keep the district up and

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going and just make it more viable. And it's been I feel like it's been a good partnership since I've been part of the district. Um, and it's been it's just been healthy and really good and supportive and we're very thankful we are able to use the vehicles and and just keep ourselves up. Otherwise,

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everything goes into our billable rates and that makes it even trickier. >> We need to come up with a good rest recipe for craads, right? >> And have a booth at fisherman's pick. >> There you go. So, um, you had asked kind of what are the impacts to the work from

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our budget reductions. Um, I didn't put staffing in here because it's alarming for staff to have to hear that. Um, so I wanted to try to put more of how does impact the community and the natural resources that we do. So, you know, our environment is going to continue to change. We're going to continue to have

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forest impacts from spruce breadworm and fires and everything. Our precipitation is continually changing. Our land stewardship and management practices from land owners change um because we've getting different people in, you know, with different perspectives and ideas. And that's this is the bulk of our work.

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So our work load will still be there, but the environment is going to continually be changing. Um so that means with budget reductions, we're going to have less ability to respond to land owners um when they need it or just be able to respond. We will have less opportunity to provide support to all of

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our partners because we just won't have the capacity. Uh we know that we have flooding about every 3 to five years. it seems like unfortunately we were discussing with the DNR we're due this year and it always happens over summer solstice so keep your eye on the radar um for the weekend and so we're hoping

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it doesn't happen but you know when that flooding takes place we're almost always the first people folks call you know either on the property on their private property the city will call and so we won't be able to respond we won't be able to say yeah let's contact FEMA

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let's contact those folks we have a lot of ends because there won't be the staff to do it um or the capacity even if there are the staff. We can't help as much with forest health and biodiversity which again is one of the reasons why we have clean water. If you want to look at it from an economic standpoint point,

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people come up here because we have clean water. So, they're not going to want to come when the harbors gross or the rivers are gross or the lakes are gross or property value goes down. We're going to have a lot less science um and understanding of the long-term land use impacts because we're not able to do water monitoring and to support that,

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which is really important up here. Even if you fish, it's important. No matter what, you're you're being touched by this. So, all of the work that we do, both little and big, we'll be impacted. And that it'll I know that sometimes I always get the question and I've gotten it lots of times of, well, what do you guys do? What's your impact? And it's

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hard to paint it because we are so small, but when we look at it, we actually do a lot and it's it's pretty big. So, I'll end you with a nice photo at the end of the trail of my favorite camping spot up on um the end of the trail, but just to say thank you, you know, to the county. Thank you for

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listening to me talk for a very long time today and um for asking questions and for the support. I know the staff appreciate it and my supervisors appreciate it. Um and land owners do too. >> Thank you. Yeah, probably need a break now.

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I've worked with Elena on a different projects down in the West End and it's just invaluable and but how do we sort this out? So, >> it's we're going to work with you. >> Thanks. So, >> so yeah, I just wanted to provide you Yeah. with an update, too. And our budget is going to change from what

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you're going to see next week. Um or when you get your budget requests, it will change throughout the the next year as I because that's what we do. We're constantly just updating it. So, >> and if I might just mention that um because it's an because you are part of

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an outside organization, it's it's going through our new process with the budget and facilities advisory committee and the application process. So, >> so we'll we'll screen it through that and then it will come before the board. >> But the AIS budget because it is a county it's in the county funding will

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have a different budget. So, you'll see that separate and I'm working with Amanda on that. So you'll see two budgets coming in um just for that reason. So >> well thanks for all your work. You work so well with all our departments, all of our residents and um

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>> it often goes unnoticed and it's really important that we are all making sure that we give credit where credit is doing incredible work you do. >> Thanks. So it's good work. So all right you thank you.

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>> Thank you. Okay, now we'll move on to talk about the TOFD transfer station operations. Okay, >> transition. >> All right. Well, as you can see, Neva is not here. She is on vacation.

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>> So, I am sitting in um for her and Allison is going to assist with this topic as well. First of all, I want to mention why we added this to CO. Um, so we really wanted because this is a new conversation, we wanted to make sure

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that you had an opportunity to hear the discussion, have some discussion, and then bring it to the board for a future decision. Didn't want to bring it to the board for a decision without it being before you and give you time to kind of think about how you want to respond. So, first of all, that's that's why we're

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here today at a cow. Um, as you all know, the Topi transfer station operations will be transferred to Northshore Waste. That's a decision that was made um quite some time ago, and we're we're continuing to move forward with the Doppy transfer station um

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construction, and we're looking at a completion date of around July 1st. So, we need to start planning for transferring the operations to Northshore Waste. So with planning for the operations, we have a position that's impacted. So when the decision to

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transfer operations was made, a decision regarding um the waste site attendant was not concurrently made at the time that those decisions about the transfer of the operations happened. And so we want to make sure again that we have an

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opportunity to talk about it and what what is going to happen with that particular position. So, a meeting with the impacted employee and HR and the land services director occurred on May 26th, and we also sent a follow-up

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letter to the employee. He was notified of this operational change, that it would be occurring, and that this topic would be discussed today. So, I just want to make sure everyone is aware that he has been notified. And so, there are two provisions that Allison is going to walk us through that outline our

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options. um and one is the personnel policy and one is the CCEA collective bargaining agreement. So with that, Allison, do you want to walk through those two? >> Sure. >> Yeah. Um and those items or those documents um are included in the agenda

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item >> um after the um summary of the agenda item. So, we'll just start with looking at the overarching uh personnel policy that addresses changes of employment status. Um, so it looks like this. I

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bring that off so I can have notes and run through it. Um, so I just want to review all of the potential changes that could occur with someone currently employed in the county. um and just some of the um specifics in regards to each one as

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to how those can occur um and potentially that information will inform the the conversation and potential decision that would impact this position. All right. So, I'm going to start with and they're laid out by numbers. So, I'll just kind of go down by the numbers. So um in general when we

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see county employees kind of shift and move in the organization um there can be different changes and they are subject or uh potentially uh a promotion which is usually where someone moves into another vacant an available vacant position and usually there's an increase

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in pay. We have voluntary and involuntary transfers. So that's where the decision is made either by the employee or the supervisor, the manager to move an individual from one um similarly paid position to another. So

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there's usually no change in pay. Um there are demotions. So those can also be voluntary or involuntary. Again, that would be where someone is moving from one position to another. Um and there is usually an associated decrease in pay.

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Now, the things the thing the big thing to note about those options would be there actually has to be an open position available to move an employee into. Um, as of right now, we have three open positions that are currently

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posted. We've got an adult mental health case manager, uh, deputy sheriff, and, uh, public safety telecommunicator, jailer. So independently of whatever employee um if they're looking to move to another position, they'd obviously have to meet

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all of the minimum qualifications and go through the standard recruitment process for that for that role. >> Then we're moving into some other options. Um so number seven in that personnel policy is actually uh

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referring to layoffs. Um and this would be where we would actually have to basically abolish a position. Um, and this could be due to lack of funds, shortage of work, or other reasons beyond the control of the employee. Um, potentially change in operations like

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we're shifting this to Northshore Waste. Um, other than that, um, outside of layoffs and the other options for movement, there would also be resignations and, um, actually dismissing or terminating an employee.

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Now when we look at the um subsequent page in the attached agenda um it looks like this. It starts with like section 56 and talks about article 19 article 20. This is pulled directly from the Cook County Employees Association

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collective bargain bargaining agreement. So this position uh though a site attendant at toy this position is covered under the CCA bargaining group and thus anything any provision within the CCA agreement would apply to this

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position as well. Now the changes of employment status that I discussed are not referenced in not all of them are referenced in the CCA contract. The only one that is covered and represented is the provision about layoffs and the

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language is uh is very much in alignment with the language that's in the personnel policy. So with that, um the reason that we're bringing this to you and and one of the reasons we will bring it for um a future meeting is in the layoff provision, it

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does say that um the decision to lay off personnel shall be made by the county board after consultation with the affected department head and the administrator's office. And also that the employee shall be given as much notice of layoff as feasible. And so we have um again notified the employee that

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this conversation is happening. Um we have encouraged the employee to review the open county positions. Northshore Waste will be moving forward with posting a position um for that facility as well. And so we've encouraged um the employee to reach out to Northshore Waste and learn more about the future of

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that position. Um but again, just wanted to start the conversation here and then we'll bring it to a future meeting for a final decision. Has this been done with the Hovland group? >> The Hovland was a new station. >> There was station there was no employee that was working there.

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>> We have now employees that work there. >> Correct. But the the county the county never operated. >> Yeah. >> Hland. >> We developed it and then the operations immediately was taken on by Northshore Waste and so they hired an employee. Okay.

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>> So they have the same contract. So of the same >> they the operations withore employee what they have correct and so the operations for tufty will be similar to what what is at whole >> okay

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>> so basically the um I mean I I appreciate the integrity of this process and um if we have policies in place we have to make sure often times as commissioners when something's coming before the board will ask Brady or our

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attorney and say what are the parameters and in which this decision can get made. And so if we're going to have a change is not as simple as just doing what we foresee. We have to understand compliance with regard to this. So I

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appreciate again the integrity of the process. The the fact that you've notified the individual is a good thing. the fact that both in our um Cook County employees agreement and in our policy

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the provision is there. It just at this point it's up to the board to make the decision in order to be compliant and we're looking at a at an opening date for the center that's coming up.

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That's why notifying and letting them know is important. But uh so again I just underscore I appreciate the integrity of this process and my recommendation would be to then just bring it before the board. We know the parameters in which the decision could

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get made. You've offered uh based upon our policy what options are for the individual and they're certainly will willing or able to make application with the person that now would have the authority to be able to make that hire. >> And what is the timeline for them to

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apply? They have not posted the position yet. Um, but anticipate that they will be posting it soon >> by July 1st. >> Correct. Yeah. Correct. >> It's coming along really nice. >> Oh, good. I've heard.

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>> My only regret is that we didn't notify earlier. It was kind of implied when we decided to go the path we are with the transfer station, >> right? >> And so, yeah, but if we could have officially notified then I think that

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>> and it could have been but yeah >> a little awkward given the fact that the the Hovland situation was completely different than this and so we put it in muddled it in the whole context but it's back to saying >> it's just wise for us as commissioners

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always say what's the context in which this decision gets made so that we can make sure that we're protecting consistent and integrity in in how we apply our policies. So, >> okay. Thank you.

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>> All right. You're welcome. >> And that is the last item that that we have on our agenda. So, we are ajourned. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Alison. You're welcome.